Former employee sues over city's 'living wage' law

Gloria Wright / The Post-StandardPatrick O'Halloran stands outside the Onondaga Tower Parking Garage on South Warren Street. O'Halloran sued the city for back pay after the city failed to include parking employees under its living wage law passed in 2005.

Syracuse, NY -- Three years ago, elected officials in Syracuse enacted a "Living Wage" law on the promise that it would raise the salaries of parking garage attendants and others who worked for companies under city contracts.

Instead, Patrick O'Halloran, a maintenance worker for Murbro Parking, had to sue to receive his promised $11.91 per hour. He won a decision last month in City Court.

During O'Halloran's two-year legal fight, Murbro based its defense on the city's position that the living wage law should not apply to O'Halloran or his colleagues. The city's lawyer contended that because the city's contract with Murbro expired at the end of 1999, before the law took effect, there was no legal agreement that would trigger the living wage mandate.

City Court Judge Stephen J. Dougherty disagreed, ruling that the city's month-to-month verbal arrangement with Murbro constituted a legal contract, and that Murbro was responsible for back wages owed to O'Halloran. Exact damages have not yet been decided, but will be at least $8,000, O'Halloran's lawyer said.

O'Halloran, 56, of Syracuse, worked full-time at the Onondaga Tower garage in downtown Syracuse from January 2005 until he resigned in July 2006, when he made between $7.25 and $7.75 an hour.

He said it was the city's hypocrisy that prompted him to sue.

"What I want to know is why this law was enacted if they weren't going to enforce it," O'Halloran said.

It's a good question, said Barrie Gewanter, a living wage advocate who served on a commission formed by Mayor Matt Driscoll to evaluate the potential impact of living wage legislation.

"I think the person who sued is very courageous, but it shouldn't have been necessary," Gewanter said. "The city should have taken steps to enforce the plain English in its own law."

The Common Council voted unanimously in May 2005 in favor of the law, which says that full-time workers employed by companies doing business with the city should earn a salary sufficient to keep them and their families out of poverty. Driscoll signed the law and it became effective Sept. 22, 2005.

At that point, said the lawyer for Murbro Parking, the city could have directed the company to pay the living wage to parking garage employees. After all, the city reimburses Murbro for all its salary expenses.

Others who work through city contracts, including monitors on buses that transport city schoolchildren, received wage increases shortly after the law passed.

But for a full year, none of the parking attendants at city-owned garages were paid a living wage. A 2006 city auditor's report pointed out the city's failure to update its contracts to include the increased wages.

Another two years have passed since that auditor's report, and the city is still not fully living up to its living wage promise. O'Halloran estimates that dozens of parking attendants and others working in city-owned garages and lots are still making well below the living wage.

Some of those who advocated for the law say they were not aware that the city has failed so far to follow through on the 2005 law.

"It was a surprise to me," said Common Councilor Tom Seals, chief sponsor of the legislation. "We appointed a commission for the living wage law and they never notified me. But Murbro should have been paying the living wage."

The law called for creation of a nine-member advisory committee to monitor the law's implementation, said Thomas M. Carnrike, a city lawyer who serves on the committee. The Living Wage Advisory Committee was established in January 2006.

The advisory committee concluded early on that it did not have the resources required to investigate individual companies to determine whether they were complying with the law. Instead, the committee created a complaint form that underpaid workers could use to report violations. The forms were made available at the city's Purchase Department and at the clerk's office at City Hall.

In the three years since the law was enacted, no worker has filed a complaint.

O'Halloran filed his lawsuit in July 2006, shortly after he resigned. He said his former co-workers, whom he keeps in touch with, still make less than $8 an hour.

The others could sue for their back wages, said Matthew Bergeron, the lawyer who represented O'Halloran.

O'Halloran said some are worried they'll lose their jobs if they stand up for themselves.

"They know they are entitled, but they are afraid of reprisal," he said.

O'Halloran, who spent 20 years in the insurance business, now works full-time in security, a position he held while also working full-time at the parking garage. He has a master's degree in urban administration and said the injustice of the last three years might prompt him to consider a run for mayor next year.

Gewanter said Murbro should pay the back wages, not only to O'Halloran but to all of its employees who were paid less than the living wage.

"Let's move forward, pay the wages and do the right thing," she said.

The current living wage is $11.10 if an employer offers health insurance, and $13.11 without health insurance, said City Auditor Phil LaTessa. The rate is updated periodically to keep up with inflation.

Murbro's lawyer, Miles G. Lawlor, said that any financial gain from not paying the living wage fell to the city -- not Murbro. Had the city advised Murbro it needed to pay the living wage, the city would have had to increase its reimbursements to Murbro, Lawlor said.

"Murbro did not benefit in any way by not paying the living wage," Lawlor said.

Murbro trusted the city's opinion that it was not subject to the wage law because of the month-to-month arrangement, said Lawlor, who would not comment on whether his client would appeal the judge's decision.

Common Councilor Stephanie Miner, a labor lawyer, said an appeal would be a waste of resources.

"It appears that there was somebody who was not paid the living wage," she said. "That violates the spirit and the letter of the law."

If the judge's decision stands, it's likely Syracuse taxpayers will end up footing the bill. Driscoll said he thought the city and Murbro would be able to reach an agreement on reimbursement.
New contracts delayed

Mayor Driscoll said the city knew it had to update its parking management contracts to incorporate the living wage, and it did so for the garage at Hancock International Airport. Central Parking runs that garage, and employees there are paid the living wage.

But the city's eight other garages went without contracts for more than a year before any work began on the process. Murbro runs five of those garages: Sibley, Washington Street, Fayette Street, Onondaga Tower and AXA Towers.

New contracts for the city garages are nearly ready to be signed, said Jeff Wright, city commissioner of public works. The city is in the process of awarding contracts to various garage management companies. The new contracts mandate paying the living wage.

"There was an easy way to have avoided all this," said City Councilor Lance Denno, who served on the advisory committee before he was elected to council in 2007. "That was to renegotiate the contracts two years ago when the audit came out. In my opinion, there's no excuse for it to have taken so long."